


Ivan's Fall

by Huggiebird



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Al being an nice demon?, Cute, Ivan being clueless, M/M, RusAmeBigBang, gil being a good guy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-28
Updated: 2018-12-28
Packaged: 2019-09-29 08:40:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,378
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17200241
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Huggiebird/pseuds/Huggiebird
Summary: This is my companion piece to the RusAme BigBang on Tumblr. Dani is my co-piece maker :D





	Ivan's Fall

**Author's Note:**

> This is my companion piece to the RusAme BigBang on Tumblr. Dani is my co-piece maker :D

“Ivan, remember, don’t cross the gates without telling Peter where you are going!” One of the elder beings told the boy. Ivan smiled and nodded. “Okay Samael!” Ivan was an angel, just like many others in this realm. The same realm humans called heaven. Samael shook his head when he saw the younger fly off, young angels tended to be too curious for their own good sometimes. Even when Ivan came to them when he was just 23, he was still young compared to most other angels. Ivan had only been dead for about 75 years and new angels didn’t spawn every day like they used to. Samael was sure Ivan was old enough to wander around by himself but he never knew if anything would happen.

Samael gestured to another angel and told them to follow Ivan. “Just in case.” He explained when the other complained about having to ‘babysit’ Ivan again. “But why can’t Ludwig do it?” The white-haired individual asked, a whine of displeasure slipping out afterwards. “Gilbert, we have been over this, God asked you to look after new arrivals and he is only one of the few new ones this century.” Not every human who died became an angel though.

If a human died, they could also become a demon. Either a demon, an angel or nothing but a soul passing on to the next plane of existence. Ivan had died in 1942 and he had become an angel. Many souls would either become demons or neither of the two. Demons in recent years had been a bit more common than angels in the past century. One of the many reasons why was the increased strife and struggle of humankind.  
Samael sighed when Gilbert flew off to follow Ivan. With the increase of demons the past century, and the lack of angels keeping up with their numbers, Fallen Angels would be easier to create. Fallen Angels were angels of heaven who were once pure but they got defiled by sin and temptation and lure of the bad ones. Samael hoped Ivan, as innocent as the boy was, that he would not fall like some of the other angels that century already had.

An angel becoming a Fallen one, as they were called, was a rare occasion, but the chance that it might happen did get bigger with the higher amount of demons around compared to the angels now. This was worrying. One of the recently fallen had been an angel who had been in heaven long enough to know and be wise enough not to fall for the trap. But it had still happened. And those demons were getting more and more tricky.

Demons didn’t let angels fall for no reason or for fun either. They tried to let an angel fall so that they could be cleansed of their own sins and escape from hell. The judge of whom was allowed in what realm was God. And since God was lord of heaven, sending ones that had sinned to hell seemed to be a fitting task. But most souls who would be sent to hell, and who did not agree to that arrangement, weren’t able to redeem themselves at all. God was old and wise, but his judgmental side had been set in stone for centuries now.

It had been fair in the beginning though, souls who had been sent to hell, who had become demons for their sins, had been able to redeem themselves. But ever since Lucifer rebelled, lead the rebellion against heaven so long ago and he had become the First Fallen, God had refused to let any other soul condemned to hell redeem itself ever again. The betrayal of Lucifer had made God blind and forget every soul was equal and free of sins before they would be judged.

Samael sighed once more and shook his head to stop that train of thought. He was worrying too much. Ivan had never strayed far from the gates before and the elder angel was sure Ivan wouldn’t start now. Gilbert was looking after him after all. That was going to be fine. Gilbert was old enough to be responsible for himself and others if he was asked to ‘babysit’ as Gilbert had called it.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ivan grinned and flew to the gates spotting Peter ahead. He slowed down before he landed, making sure he looked at least a little presentable before leaving heaven to play on the clouds surrounding the place.

His outfit consisted of an off-white tunic with a brown belt, a pair of woolen pants and brown sandals. He also had a woolen shirt under the tunic as well. The tunic was mid-knee length. His wings were white, with soft fluffy feathers. He also had a scarf around his neck, that one was a muted pink. One of the last earthly possessions Ivan had. Not many had any earthly possessions except for the items they held dear as humans. That could be clothes or items. Sometimes it were animals. Gilbert had a little yellow chick as companion and Ivan had his scarf.

Peter looked at Ivan’s expectant face and sighed. “I know what you want. Do not stay out too long.” He said with a sigh. Ivan had been wanting to explore the clouds around the gates of heaven and that was troublesome because the last Fallen Angel had also been as curious as Ivan was.

Ivan smiled and nodded. “Okay~ I will do that.” He chirped, getting through the gates to the clouds beyond heaven. They were not as fluffy as the ones he knew that resided in heaven but they were still nice to walk on or to lay on and chill. He giggled in glee and began to fly around the clouds, letting himself free fall for a bit before flying back up to the sturdy clouds nobody could pass.  
He knew where the gates were, even when he didn’t see them anymore. A kind of ‘pull’ inside of him always guided him home to heaven. He spotted another cloud he could jump through and he giggled when he flew over to the cloud, anticipating the thrill of free falling. He yelled happily when he felt the wind rush past his face and through his feathers. He didn’t really see where he was going to fall though and he impacted with something after a few minutes of falling.

“Oof!” It was not as hard as rock, so it would only mean another thing. A person. Ivan groaned and sat up. He spotted the other person he had slammed into. He had blond hair and glasses. And he seemed to be unconscious. Woops. Ivan got up and checked himself over, nothing broken or heavily bruised. Okay good. He walked over to the stranger and poked him gently. “Hello? Are you okay?” He hoped the other was okay.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The stranger woke after about ten minutes, rubbing their head and muttering about having been hit by a freight train. Ivan blinked down at him and froze when the gaze of the other landed on him. He had very pretty…..intense blue eyes. “Hello.” He tried, making the other tilt his head. “Hello.” The other greeted back. Ivan had never seen an angel with leathery wings before, was he new? “I never have seen an angel like you before.” Ivan said, curious about the one he crashed into.

The stranger got up and dusted himself off before checking for any injuries on his person. “I’m Alfred.” The sunny blonde replied, “I’ve never met an angel before that can’t fly.” Alfred countered, not answering the question of if he were a new angel or not. “What is your name?” Ivan blushed when his crash was mentioned. “I was free falling. I like to do that when I play outside of the gates.” Ivan said with a small grin. “Play outside the gates?” Alfred parroted, tilting his head. Ivan nodded, pointing to the general direction of said gates. Alfred nodded and hummed. “I see, thank you for letting me know. You never mentioned your name to me, dear. What is it?”

Ivan took a small step back when Alfred got into his space, blue eyes staring at his own violet ones. Ivan wondered how the wings felt compared to his own feathery ones. They looked smooth and kinda soft to the touch. But he doubted Alfred would let Ivan touch his wings. “My name is Ivan.” He mumbled, feeling his face flush at the close proximity of the two of them. Alfred grinned when he heard the name, showing his pointy teeth. “Thank you dear Ivan, for sharing your name.” He said, stepping back once more to let the other breath a bit easier. “I should go now, but I am glad I got to meet you.” Alfred nearly purred, smirking slightly. Ivan looked a little sad at the news of the other having to leave. This would be a new friend perhaps. Alfred stretched his leathery wings, they were a bit ripped at the edges, Ivan noticed, before Alfred turned back to the angel. “I am sure we will meet again soon~” Ivan watched the other jump off of another nearby cloud and soar away, not knowing he had brought down a curse on himself by revealing his name to one of the damned.

\------------------------------------------------------------------

Ivan should go back to heaven, the encounter with Alfred left him with a bit of an uneasy feeling in his stomach. Should he tell anyone of the encounter? Maybe Peter? No. Ivan shook his head while he started to pace. Peter was already busy enough guarding the gates of the place Ivan called home. God perhaps? Also no, the deity was busy enough governing over his domain as it was. Answering silly questions of an unimportant angel wasn’t worth His time. Ivan didn’t want to bother him anyway, the powerful being made him nervous to be around. Samael? Would he be a good pick to tell his adventures to?

His musings got interrupted when someone else landed near him on the same cloud. “Geez, you fly pretty fast when you are having fun. Gilbird couldn’t even keep up and he is the fastest around here!” Ivan turned to the voice and grinned when he saw a familiar face. Gilbert was one he could tell it to for sure. “Hi Gilbert~” Ivan moved to hug the other but the elder angel was quick enough to keep the younger out of hugging range, Ivan’s hugs were known to be strong and if Ivan was not careful, he might bruise a wing of another or something of that sort. “No hugging today kiddo, and you know I don’t do hugs.” Maybe only with his bird companion or his little brother but not with many others.

Ivan pouted. “I am not a kid anymore Gilbert, I’m 23!” Gilbert rolled his eyes. “And you have been dead for what, 75 years?” Gilbert countered. “Compared to me you are a kid, and you won’t be anything else for me for a long while.” Gilbert himself had been dead for a long, long time. Around 1230 AD or so, if he remembered right. Gilbert was easily an millennia older than Ivan was. The younger one had been brought to heaven in around 1942. Ivan had died because a disease or some sort, Gilbert had died on the battlefield, defending the holy city in a crusade.

Ivan was one of the few young angels around and thus needed to be looked after, even if Gilbert didn’t want to do it all the time. Two of his best friends had become a Fallen one long before Ivan became an angel, but when his two best friends Fell, he vowed to let no other angel Fall ever again. That is why Samael had asked him to look after Ivan while the other was out of the gates.

“Let’s go back to the gates or Peter will have another stroke because you stayed out for nearly two days because you forgot the time while playing around.” Gilbert said after a bit, opening his wings once more to jump into the sky. Ivan opened his wings as well and grinned. “I met someone today.” He said when they had jumped into the sky and were flying back up to the gates of heaven.

“Oh really?” Gilbert acted like it was normal to meet new people outside of the premises of heaven, but it wasn’t. “Did you tell the person you met your name?” He asked. At Ivan’s confirmative nod, Gilbert had to take a breath before he could continue. That was bad news. Gilbert for that matter, didn’t know who that person might be, or what it might be.

“Did that person also give you their name?” Ivan thought for a moment. “Yes.” Ivan was about to tell Gilbert the name of the person he met but Gilbert stopped him with a headshake before he could. “You can tell your tale after we have returned, okay?” Samael had to know about this, Peter too. Peter shouldn’t let Ivan leave heaven for a while. Not until they knew who the person was that Ivan had met. But Gilbert had a pretty good idea now what the mysterious person would be.

Because only demons asked for names for the first time, when they knew the questioned person didn’t know what fate they would bestow upon themselves when they would give their true name to one that resided in the realm of the damned.

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Ivan was later told that revealing his name to a demon, as that had been the person he had met before, was a taboo. Or rather, something that was never done. Alfred was a demon and Ivan had never known. Not until Samael had explained to him what he had done had been very, very stupid and dangerous. If that Alfred met Ivan again, the knowledge the demon had over Ivan, when knowing one’s true name, was highly unclear and only Fallen ones knew. But Fallen ones were not allowed back into heaven ever again, so the ones in heaven would never know what powers the demon had over one that had told their true name to them.

Ivan had gotten out of the encounter with Alfred relatively unscattered but his true name was taken by a demon and he couldn’t do anything about that. Except stay in heaven for the rest of his afterlife, but he was too curious to stay put for long. Ivan had already asked Peter a few times if he could go through the gates again, but Peter had refused time and time again. ”For the last time Ivan, no stays no.” The gatekeeper said, crossing his arms and frowning at the young angel. No doubt Alfred was trying to lure him out of the gates and into his clutches.

Peter was not going to fail God again by letting another angel escape and become a Fallen one. That would not be proper. Ivan finally left after asking Peter for nearly half an hour straight. It had been a few days now since the two met and Ivan couldn’t get the stranger out of his head. Was he really a demon? Or was he just a lost angel? If he were one, he should have found the gates already… But what did the older angels know about demons and their powers if they never left the gates of heaven and stayed in the boundaries? Maybe they were lying? No. Ivan shook his head. Lying was a sin and angels didn’t sin. Only demons and Fallen ones sinned.

Ivan sighed. He had to meet Alfred again. He just had to find a way to get through the gates without Peter noticing anything. That was easier said than done however. Ivan had to think of a plan to see Alfred again. He just had to succeed or the thoughts of Alfred would never leave him alone.

\------------------------------------------------------------

It took nearly two weeks to think of a plan to get out of the gates of heaven without Peter alarming other angels. He was going to ask Gilbert to accompany him outside the gates and then when Gilbert wasn’t looking, run for it to look for the demon on his own. That plan sounded like a very nice idea.

Peter looked at them both, arms crossed as usual. “Only for an afternoon. And Gilbert, I hold you personally responsible if he gets lost again.” He said, glowering at them both. Peter’s patience could only be tested so many times before it ran out. And both of them were nearing the end of his patience. The older angel grinned. “Aw, Peter, don’t be such a stick in the clouds! I will look after him just fine.” Peter gave him a look. “Promised!” Gilbert said, holding his hands up as a peace offering.

The ancient angel sighed again, rubbing his face. “Fine. I will lock you out for the rest of the week if you fail this time.” He said as last warning before opening the gates. Ivan grinned and thanked him before getting through. Peter was also known as one of the Ancient Angels because he was, together with the other 11 decipels of God, one of the first to follow His son and preach his teachings. The twelfth deciple was excluded from the lot for betraying the one they followed, but many didn’t know where he had gone after he had died. Some rumor he had become a regular soul, and others rumor he went to the realm of the damned. But nobody knows for sure where Judas went.

Gilbert quickly followed the young angel, trying to keep up with his enthusiasm. Gilbert managed to keep up for the most part, grabbing a hold of Ivan’s tunic when he was close enough. “Slow down you rascal! You will get us both in trouble if you get lost again.” He grumbled, making Ivan look at least a little guilty. “Sorry Gilbert…” Gilbert waved the apology away and shrugged. “It’s fine kiddo, just don’t run of like that the next time or Peter won’t let both of us leave. And I have a job to do outside of heaven when new arrivals get here and can’t find the gates.” Ivan nodded in understanding, “I won’t stray too far from you this time.” He said, making Gilbert raise an eyebrow. “This time?” He echoed, confused. Before Gilbert could ask for the other to clarify himself, Ivan had flown off, picking up speed as he went. “HEY! GET BACK OVER HERE!” Gilbert yelled after him when he realized Ivan had used him to get out of the gates without getting into trouble.

That was already the first sign trouble was going to start, Ivan was more disobedient than usual, and didn’t listen to authority as well as he should. Ivan was in for it when Gilbert got his hands on him for sure. He was going to chain Ivan to his bed in his house when he got him, not allowing him to leave at all. That would teach the younger angel to mess around with other’s expectations and trust. Not that Ivan was untruthful or had sinned before, but his behavior right now was getting dangerously close to sinning.

“Ivan! Ivan, where are you?!” Gilbert didn’t see the younger angel anywhere in his vision and his calls weren’t returned. Oh man. Peter would have his hide if he found out Ivan got lost. Gilbert grumbled and called out to the other again, flying around. “Ivan!” It took him about thirty minutes or so before he heard laughter. Laughter he did and also didn’t recognize. The first was Ivan’s, soft yet happy but the other one was unfamiliar. Loud and obnoxious. Shit. The demon had found Ivan earlier than Gilbert had. This was bad, so very, very bad.

“Ivan!” Gilbert called out, flying through the nearest cloud to reach the two faster. He opened his wings wider to slow himself down when he spotted the two staring at him, one with wide guilty eyes and the other with wide surprised ones. They were sitting on a sturdy cloud, talking. Ivan looked unhurt at first glance, but Gilbert had no idea what Alfred could have done in the past thirty minutes. “What were you thinking?!” He began as he landed on the same cloud, it was big enough to hold a couple of angels at once and sturdy enough to hold a house. “Get away from him!” He added, reaching for Ivan to pull him away from the demon that was watching the proceedings in silence.

Ivan opened his mouth to protest when he was pulled away and back on his feet by the angry Teutonic knight angel. “Ivan! What were you thinking, talking to that-” Gilbert didn’t want to curse but he was close in doing so. “To that thing?!” He continued, fuming.

Gilbert wore a mix of casual angel attire and his ‘awesome’ Teutonic outfit. A chainmail shirt with a pair of pants with a white mid-knee length tunic over that, with a brown belt. A cape wasn’t practical when one had wings. Therefore, the black cross that is associated with the order Gilbert originated from, and which was usually seen on a cape, was stitched on his chest where an ordinary breast pocket would be.

“But Gil-” Gilbert put an hand one Ivan’s mouth to silence him. “Do not speak my name when the damned are around, kid.” He snapped, making Ivan hold his tongue. “We aren’t done talking about this.” He added before he turned to look at the demon sitting a bit ways away from the two. 

Gilbert gave the demon a glare when the blonde gave a grin in return. Alfred got up as well and stretched, showing of his wings to the two angels. Ivan was looking fascinated while Gilbert’s glare only intensified more. “Don’t worry about little Ivan, dear~” He said with a grin, showing pointy teeth. “You can’t keep him from me forever, Gil~” Alfred had heard the first three letters of Gilbert’s name after all and he was going to use them anytime he could, even if the nickname had no effect like full known names had.

Alfred wore a mid-knee length tunic with sandals not unlike Ivan’s outfit, but Alfred also had another colour pallet than both angels. He had a pair of pants as well under his tunic and a jacket on. His outfit mostly consisted of black, red and gold while angel attire was usually white with gray and some other pastel colours, with a bit of black or brown thrown in the mix. Alfred had a pair of black leathery wings with points at the top, a pair of black, slightly curly horns growing out of his blonde hair and a dark red tail with a sharp point growing out of his lower backside, near his butt. Furthermore, he had sharp nails and his strength was nothing to laugh at.

Gilbert knew he had to be careful when dealing with demons. “I will see you two later, but preferably only Ivan~”. Alfred said, still grinning. Gilbert held his hand on Ivan’s shoulder to stop him from following the demon, he had felt the younger angel tense next to him when Alfred had said his name. Ivan watched the other leave with a pout on his face. When Alfred was gone from sight, Ivan’s gaze turned to Gilbert, irritated and upset. “Why did you have to interrupt? He was doing nothing wrong! We weren’t doing anything wrong! We were just talking!” He snapped, crossing his arms over his chest like a petulant child.

Gilbert gave him an hard look. He crossed his arms as well. “Didn’t you hear what Peter had said? Didn’t you listen to his warnings?” He asked, trying to stay calm. At least more calm than he felt. “You have disrespected his orders and mine, more than once!” Ivan huffed and looked away. “Alfred was right.” That made Gilbert pause and narrow his eyes. “What did that demon tell you?” He said, voice dangerous. Ivan didn’t look back at the elder angel when he spoke after a few tense minutes. “You and the other angels only keep me here for your own gain and that you don’t care about me! You don’t care about my opinions either, since I am too young to know what I am talking about!” Ivan snapped back, the dark look on his face not very fitting for his personality.

Gilbert nearly took a step back, the demon had already been influencing Ivan to an extent and if he wasn’t careful, Alfred might be able to do even more damage. Gilbert steeled his resolve and his expression hardened before he grabbed Ivan’s hand in an iron grip and opened his wings. He shot into the air without another word, ignoring Ivan’s protests to let him go and that it wasn’t fair. The behavior Ivan was displaying was the starting stage of becoming a Fallen Angel and that was bad, really bad.

\-------------------------------------------

Gilbert had gotten back to heaven and without a word had pulled Ivan in his room and had closed the door, locking it. Ivan’s room was one fo the many rooms angels could pick from to call their own, and decorate it as they saw fit. Ivan’s room was in an apartment building formed like a square with a garden in the middle for all the other tentants to use as well. Every apartment had a door to those gardens and everyone had an own key, so nobody could get in with ill intent. But this time, Gilbert had locked Ivan inside of his apartment until the older angel had talked to God about Ivan’s misbehavior and changes. The rate of them was worrying. If Gilbert wasn’t careful, Ivan would slip through their fingers and never be able to get back to heaven. Gilbert doubted that the younger even would want to if he got more corrupted than he already was.

Ivan ran to the door when Gilbert locked it, trying the doorknob. “Gilbert! I demand you let me go! Open that door!” He yelled through the thick wood, Gilbert’s voice was able to be heard through it, although muffed. “No! I won’t let you out until you stop misbehaving and disobeying the orders given to you!” Gilbert said, sternly, tucking the key in his trousers. Ivan glowered at the door. “You can’t keep me in here forever!” He yelled back. It made Gilbert roll his eyes. “I can do as I please! Unlike you, I know what I am doing with my afterlife!” Gilbert snapped back, he knew the accusation wasn’t fair on Ivan’s behalf because of his age but the albino didn’t care if he gave Ivan a piece of his mind when the stakes were so high.

Ivan didn’t seem to realize what was happening to him, but Gilbert could see it clearly. And it bothered the elder angel greatly and his concern for the younger morphed into stern words and a watchful attitude. Gilbert didn’t want to lose another personal friend to sin and unjust and Ivan had become one of those kind of friends Gilbert wouldn’t trade for anything.

Ivan huffed when he didn’t hear any more words from behind the door, the pale blond angel stalking to his comfortable bed and sitting down with an angry frown. What did Gilbert think he was doing? Ivan regarded the albino elder angel as a good companion throughout the first 75 years of his afterlife, but lately Gilbert had become unbearably prying and getting in his personal sphere. Ivan didn’t like that kind of medling. In the past he hadn’t minded much, Gilbert had known when to back off then. But ever since meeting Alfred, Gilbert had become like an overprotective mother hen and Ivan disliked that attitude a lot. Ivan saw absolutely no problem in hanging out with Alfred but everyone disagreed.

He was going to break out of his room and see if he could get to Alfred once more. This time without telling a soul or letting anyone know what he was going to do, he was being watched enough as it was. He thought Alfred was great, the adventures he told and the places he had been…. Ivan wanted to hear more and experience them himself. His tales of heroics fascinated Ivan and he wanted to see the places Alfred spoke of, and dare he say it, Ivan had a kind of pull towards Alfred the angel couldn’t explain. It had started the moment he had introduced himself to the other after crashing into him that fateful day.

He was going to get to Alfred and he wouldn’t let anyone stop him, not even God.

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Alfred knew he had the angel now. He could ask anything and Ivan, his dear Ivan would do it, without questions asked. The moment he heard the angel’s name, he had grinned from ear to ear. The angel had been as naive as they come and had told Alfred his name. That was the only mistake to be made and everything would fall into place. Alfred could already tell that his influence was working on the other, if their last encounter didn’t tell him otherwise.

Soon he would be able to let the other fall. When that was complete, Alfred would be free, free of the cursed life of one of the damned. He had been cursed about 450 years ago, when he died. At first he had been angry, how dare they kill him? Or how dare they let him die? But four and a half centuries later, Alfred made peace with what he had become. But that didn’t mean he wanted to spend his eternal life in hell, to the contrary. Alfred had always been a wandering soul, and even in death he had been restless to explore.

And now he had a golden opportunity to leave and wander without any worries of angels or other beings forcing him and his breatheren to return to hell when they were spotted. Those angels were able and allowed to roam the skies and everything while the demons had to stay in hell. Well, that was the general heaven census idea, but Alfred had to disagree. Every being, being it an an angel or demon, should be able to roam about wherever they pleased if they didn’t cross into each other’s realm without any good reasons.

Alfred was outside of hell right now, relaxing on one of the low-hanging clouds. That way he was able to look around without anyone else coming over and bothering him. And he had a good view of the distant heaven gates above him. Heaven and Hell might be on the opposite place of the spectrum, with the earthly plane between both gates, but that didn’t mean beings from both places could travel to and from them. If an angel or demon traveled to the opposite gates, they had to pass through the earthly plane. They were invisible and intangible for all living things so that was not a big problem.

That is how Ivan had met him after all, cloud diving wasn’t something new. But hitting someone while doing that activity was definitely rare. But Alfred was glad it had happened, even if he had been knocked out of impact. He chuckled at the memory, it was still one of his fondest ones when thinking of Ivan. Alfred got on his feet, stretching and hearing his back creak. He hummed and glanced around, hoping to see Ivan anywhere. He knew the other had less of a chance of getting out of the gates of heaven if Gilbert was watching the other.

He hoped the other would be in his sights soon, knowing his corrupting sinning energy was already influencing the angel and making the other more prone to misbehavior or, god forbids- which made Alfred giggle at the nuance of that sentence-, sin. He didn’t have to wait long however. His grin nearly split his face when he spotted Ivan approaching him at long last. Alfred’s grin softened into an genuine, but still sinister, smile.

“Hi Ivan~ I am so glad you could come all the way over here today. Isn’t it a bit far from home?” He asked, feigning concern. He wasn’t concerned at all but his dear angel fell for it anyway. Ivan huffed when he landed. “It wasn’t that hard, god let me go.” What a lie. Alfred nearly jumped for joy at this point. Ivan huffed when he landed. “It wasn’t that hard, god let me go.” What a lie. Alfred nearly jumped for joy at this point. “Oh really? Did he now?” Ivan nodded, smiling. Alfred grabbed Ivan’s hand, holding it a bit tighter than necessarily needed. 

“Ivan, come on. Follow. I want to show you something.” Alfred knew Ivan would follow, without having to be prompted but Alfred liked to show his control over Ivan to whomever would be watching. To show how strong he was. He had the angel completely around his finger. Alfred felt Ivan slightly tug at his hand. “Where are we going?” Came the innocent inquiry. Alfred hummed, pretending to think on an answer. “Somewhere where I think you’ll like it.” He said, trying not to snicker at how easy it was to influence the angel.

It was Alfred’s first angel, as it usually only took one fallen angel for a demon to redeem itself, but Alfred’s prey was as innocent and impressionante as a newborn animal. At least, that happened if angels were sheltered too much in heaven. Alfred had a few friends from hell who had been able to redeem themselves by catching an angel themselves.

The demon wondered what it would be like to redeem himself and what an fallen angel who had an personality like Ivan would act and look like. Usually fallen angels didn’t change much in appearance in clothing or looks but there were differences. Fallen angel wings turned back, black feathers instead of white, sometimes they also were blessed with- Alfred had to snicker once more at the god-directed pun- a pair of horns and even rarer still was a tail not unlike Alfred’s own, pointy point and all.

Fallen Angels personalities did change more drastically than their looks however. They might still retain their virtues to an extent but they did dull- as evident to Ivan’s lying- but some others stayed strong, like Ivan’s kindness. Alfred didn’t have any control of how Ivan should act or what he should think, only that he could command him to do as he asked. Even if the other under a demon’s influence did not want to do something but got commanded to do so anyway, the person would execute the actions needed to fulfill the demand as best as they could.

But Ivan had not been cross with Alfred at all yet and showed only curiosity and kindness. It would take more than a few hours of being in a demon’s influence when the true name was known, for the angel to fall. The duration of the transformation process usually took a few days at the least and a few weeks if the angel’s will was stronger than the demon’s current level of influence. The demon could increase the influence by making the angel in their power more tempted to do bad things. That way their influence grew and the Fall was made easier to accomplish. If the angel’s will was stronger or it had been caught without revealing it’s name, the demon needed to do more work, put more effort into corrupting the angel to let the Fall happen.

Alfred turned away from his inner thoughts, his attention back to Ivan when he got another pull at his hand. Ivan, who had been asking him questions apparently, had fallen quiet, clearly waiting for an answer. “Sorry, I didn’t catch that, can you repeat that?” He asked, wondering why Ivan looked less happy than before. “Why are you ignoring me? You have been quiet for the past twenty minutes while we are traveling to what you want to show me.” Alfred hummed, looking a bit apologetic at the other. He didn’t feel guilty for ignoring the other but he deemed Ivan deserved a little bit of an apology.

“Sorry about that, it wasn’t my intention. I was thinking about things.” Ivan raised an eyebrow. “What kind of things?” He asked, tilting his head a bit to the side. Alfred shrugged. “It’s not important.” Not important enough for Ivan to know at least. “Just forget about it, it’s nothing to concern yourself with.” Alfred made an dismissive gesture, as if he were trying to wave it away. Ivan frowned a bit longer at him before he sighed and looked at his feet, looking troubled.

Alfred frowned when he saw the expression on the other’s face. He spotted some soft looking floofy clouds. They were close to their destination anyway and they both deserved a break. Angels and demons usually flew if the distance was too great so walking long distances didn’t happen often. Alfred pulled Ivan to the aforementioned clouds and demanded he’d sit down. Ivan sat down without another word, staying quiet, clearly unsure how to tell the other what was bothering him. Alfred sat down next to him on the floofy cloud.

“Now tell me, what is the matter?” Alfred prompted, raising an eyebrow in question at the angel. Ivan flushed a bit red at the somewhat intense look he was getting from the other, his eyes were very pretty blue. Ivan wanted to distract himself by looking at Alfred’s eyes but he knew the other had commanded him to tell what was bothering him. He didn’t want to spill the beans but he had to.

He sighed and managed to look away from the pretty eyes before he began. He felt a few more feathers let go of his wings and flutter away. He grabbed one he could see and looked at it sadly. It was a broken white, just like all the other feathers he was losing lately. “The real reason I left…. Is because of this.” He said, showing Alfred the feather in his hand. “I….started to uh..” He blushed then, as if he were embarrassed this was happening to him. “I started to roost.” He finished, toying with the feather. “Angels are not supposed to roost, not unless something happened to a wing or the feathers were getting old. And a roost usually only happens once every ten years to keep the wings strong and to make sure we can fly as efficiently as we usually would.” Alfred listened to it silently, storing the information in case he would need it for later.

“But that is… uh,” Now Alfred was the one slightly feeling bashful while talking of the topic of roosting, which he knew demons didn’t do. “it’s normal for you right? I mean, when was the last time you….roosted?” He asked, hoping he didn’t ask anything embarrassing or rude. Ivan bit his lip and stopped fiddling with the feather. “The roost usually takes about a month or two, and then angels are discouraged to fly in case of crashes or dangerous situations, but my last roost was half a year ago. I shouldn’t be losing my feathers right now!” Alfred hummed, his angel seemed really distressed at the prospect of roosting when he shouldn’t. “But…” Alfred didn’t get the whole story, he just knew Ivan wasn’t telling him everything right now.

“You aren’t telling me everything.” Reminding Ivan that Alfred said he wanted to hear everything wasn’t going to be of any help now. “What is the problem now? The real one?” The demon prompted, curious. Ivan swallowed. “The feathers usually return broken white, like this one.” He said, giving Alfred the feather. Alfred hummed and nearly purred at the feeling of the softness of the feather in his hands. It was nearly as soft as the cloud they were sitting on. Ivan continued, “The… feathers I am getting back now….they..” He faltered as if he was afraid to continue. Alfred was getting a litte irritated in how Ivan kept interrupting himself and not telling the problem. Alfred gave him a look, one that would make lesser demons cower, and which made Ivan flinch.

“Sorry…” The angel mumbled, swallowing once more before continu-ing. “The ones I am getting back….are black.” Ivan looked near tears when he was finished, like he couldn’t believe what he was saying. “They are not supposed to turn black!” Ivan sniffed and rubbed at his eyes, trying not to start crying at the prospect of losing his white wings for black ones. When Alfred looked closer at the angel’s wings after storing everything the other said, he noticed the grey and few black feathers mixed with the white ones. Alfred had no doubt Ivan’s change of wing colour was his doing, his demonic influence turning the pure white wings an corrupted black.

“But what is the problem with black feathers?” Alfred asked, tilting his head a bit to the side, he thought black wings would fit Ivan better than white ones anyway, since Alfred thought white was too easily turned another colour by imperfections. Black was a lot harder to discolour, mostly because nothing was darker than black. Ivan seemed to disagree, shaking his head and still rubbing at his eyes.  
“It’s not that I don’t like the colour black.” Ivan said, sniffing and trying to calm down. “Just that I do not want black wings! Nobody will want me when I have black wings! Peter won’t let me back in heaven and….and Gilbert will be so mad….I didn’t listen to what they said.” Alfred was quiet while he listened, so the angel was worried what others would think of him with black wings? How silly. Didn’t Ivan see that Alfred wanted him around? Alfred didn’t want Gilbert or Peter to take Ivan back.

Alfred grabbed Ivan’s arms and pulled him close into an hug. The sudden motion and hug made Ivan freeze up, really surprised and unsure what to make of the gesture. “What are you doing?” Alfred didn’t answer at first, too absorbed in the sensations of the hug and the soft feathered wings he could touch to respond. “Alfred?” Ivan sounded a bit awkward. The hug was very one-sided since Ivan couldn’t hug back properly with his arms pinned to his sides and his wings pressed to his back. “Can you please let me go? If you hug any tighter, my wings might get hurt.” Alfred did hear that and let the puzzled angel go.

“Don’t you know what a hug is?” Came the puzzled answer to the earlier uttered question. Ivan knew what a hug was, and he said as much. “I only want to know why you gave me the hug.” Ivan clarified. “To show you how much I care!” Alfred replied, amused. “Peter and Gilbert don’t care.” Ivan opened his mouth to say otherwise but Alfred continued before Ivan could utter a word of thinking otherwise. “They only care to have another angel to watch over and control, they don’t care about you personally.” Alfred said, sounding serious. He wasn’t, not really but Ivan hung into each word like it was water and the angel was a man in the desert who found said water.

“Only about what you are, not about who you are.” Alfred knew Ivan believed what he said when the angel looked hurt and shocked at the words, even if they were a big fat lie. Alfred knew how he cheer the other up. “I care about you. I really do.” Half a lie this time. “Shall we continue our travel now?” Ivan gave a little nod and started to rise, a few more feathers falling down and landing on the cloud. Alfred got up as well and grabbed Ivan’s hand.

They would be home soon, Ivan’s new home for all eternity.


End file.
